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[Hammer278]

Lewis Hamilton reckons he is 95% away from where he wants to be with his car after Friday practice at the European Grand Prix, but is confident he can rectify most of his problems ahead of qualifying on Saturday.

Hamilton set the 14th fastest time in second practice, 0.813s off pacesetter Sebastian Vettel, and said most of that was down to an erroneous setup choice. He said he was a long way from where he wants to be with his car and the tyres, but is sure he can find a fix for Saturday.

"I'm about 95% away from where I want to be with my car at the moment," he said, "but I'll get that 90% overnight."

Asked whether his struggle was down to the track conditions, Hamilton answered: "The track's normal, it's the same as it was in the last race. It's just setup and again the tyres were a bit of problem for us today, but we'll fix it tomorrow."

He added: "I didn't have a very good day today. It was just a bit of a struggle really, I tried a couple of different things with my tyres and it didn't work. I feel quite confident that I can make some changes to put me back in a better position tomorrow. I don't know why there's such a big gap to the lead four, on Jenson's side I don't know what problems he was having, but on my side we were having a lot of problems. We'll fix it for tomorrow and I think we'll be fine."

Hamilton said qualifying would be crucial for him as he does not fancy his chances of coming through the field on a one-stop strategy.

"I think you've got to be on the front row here [to win]," he said. "But then again this season is showing, particularly in the last race, that if you start further back and make your tyres last and do fewer stops than the guy in front, then you're in for a good shot of being in front. But that's not on the cards for us, so I have to make sure that I qualify up the front."

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Maybe McLaren have indeed 'centralized' both the Canada's winning cars' and 16th place cars' setup.

[cheekybru]

Lewis Hamilton reckons he is 95% away from where he wants to be with his car after Friday practice at the European Grand Prix, but is confident he can rectify most of his problems ahead of qualifying on Saturday.

Hamilton set the 14th fastest time in second practice, 0.813s off pacesetter Sebastian Vettel, and said most of that was down to an erroneous setup choice. He said he was a long way from where he wants to be with his car and the tyres, but is sure he can find a fix for Saturday.

"I'm about 95% away from where I want to be with my car at the moment," he said, "but I'll get that 90% overnight."

Asked whether his struggle was down to the track conditions, Hamilton answered: "The track's normal, it's the same as it was in the last race. It's just setup and again the tyres were a bit of problem for us today, but we'll fix it tomorrow."

He added: "I didn't have a very good day today. It was just a bit of a struggle really, I tried a couple of different things with my tyres and it didn't work. I feel quite confident that I can make some changes to put me back in a better position tomorrow. I don't know why there's such a big gap to the lead four, on Jenson's side I don't know what problems he was having, but on my side we were having a lot of problems. We'll fix it for tomorrow and I think we'll be fine."

Hamilton said qualifying would be crucial for him as he does not fancy his chances of coming through the field on a one-stop strategy.

"I think you've got to be on the front row here [to win]," he said. "But then again this season is showing, particularly in the last race, that if you start further back and make your tyres last and do fewer stops than the guy in front, then you're in for a good shot of being in front. But that's not on the cards for us, so I have to make sure that I qualify up the front."

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Maybe McLaren have indeed 'centralized' both the Canada's winning cars' and 16th place cars' setup.

this mclaren is at times

[racechick]

95% wrong At least he sounds positive about where the 95% has gone. lets hope he's right and can find it overnight!

[andrew]

I'm happy to see Vettel leading. Now if only the race could be cancelled and point awarded for practice.

[What's Burning?]

Caterham is picking up the pace. It's only practice but given their performance today, I'd be curious how they make out tomorrow and on race day. They seem to have certainly left the Marrusia and HRT region certainly and are now giving STR-Ferrari a hard time. In a race with some attrition, maybe this will be their first point scoring year.

[LewEngBridewell]

I won't be able to make it into the chatroom tomorrow, because I'm working in Bristol, but I'll be in it for the race! Hopefully some of you will join me

Goodnight for now.

[spankyham]

An interesting difference between in the exhaust system of Ferrari compared to McLaren and Red Bull is the lack of continuous body work from the exhaust channel to their target. If you look at the picture below you see the open space under and around the end of the exhaust channel on the Ferrari.

It's obvious that McLaren and Red Bull rely on coanda to persuade the exhaust to stay low and targeted at sealing the diffuser. It's clear the diffuser provides the best downforce because you get that df without adding as much drag as df coming from wings.

What I think Ferrari is doing is to create different pressure areas to control the exhaust flow. The disadvantage of this is that it is harder to create, the advantage is, it will be more effective. This is partly because if you are using coanda the exhaust plume, at higher speeds will rise, therefore moving away from the main target area (the diffuser). This is why brake duct fins are now so important because they are the secondary target for the exhausts as the car speed increases. If this works for Ferrari, then they will be able to keep their exhaust sealing the diffuser area longer than the other teams.

[Hammer278]

Caterham is picking up the pace. It's only practice but given their performance today, I'd be curious how they make out tomorrow and on race day. They seem to have certainly left the Marrusia and HRT region certainly and are now giving STR-Ferrari a hard time. In a race with some attrition, maybe this will be their first point scoring year.

I've seen them give other teams a hard time during practice as well. Sometimes even in qualifying! But come the race, its like they're back to keeping HRT and Marussia company.

Though I wish them well, I wouldn't get excited till seeing them actually giving the others a hard time in the race.

[vlad]

Nice FP3 for Button haters!

[Injen]

Nice FP3 for Button haters!

Really,let's see what happens in quali,u don't want to end up looking silly lol.

[bud]

Vettel was going purple on his in laps first two sectors, he was a tenth quicker in each sector compared to Buttons.

[Hammer278]

Nice FP3 for Button haters!

So you were hiding all the while the past 2 weeks until Practice 3, then start your usual crowing? Typical.

[racechick]

I have everything crossed for Lewis. I hate this track and I dont think the slow cornes will suit Mclaren.....or the heat. Also he's been nowhere in practices..but if anyone can pull it out in quali its lewis.

[andrew]

Seems to be suiting Button so far...

[racechick]

You'd better watch out then, he might beat Vettel.